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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018520">You and Me Must be Fireproof for All the Hell We've Been Through</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65'>firelord65</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Fear Simulations (Divergent), Fire, Gen, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, Siblings, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:55:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018520</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric takes Tris into a piece of his Fear Landscape.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You and Me Must be Fireproof for All the Hell We've Been Through</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I started this fic intending it as a play on one of the fears that Tris goes through in the middle chapters of Prove It. But the more that I poked at it, the less that it seemed to be just about that. If you haven't already, you should read through <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26829313">Old Scars Hurt the Worst</a> as well for some additional context. </p><p>Day 14: Is Something Burning? - Branding | Heat Exhaustion | Fire</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When I opened my eyes in the sim, I had to hold back a scowl. The stark hallways of the Hub were apparent and unmistakable, much like the eddies of black smoke curling out of one of the rooms. "This again?" I remarked.</p><p>"This again," Eric replied from beside me. I spun around, surprised. We were running through some drills together in the Fear Landscape room and obviously multiple people could go under at a time, but I hadn't seen him hook anything up to himself. I felt self conscious for a moment. Sure, he had seen how I dealt with my fears many times over - all the instructors had and at this point in Phase Three most of my friends had, too - but there was something deeply personal about being under with him now.</p><p>I set my shoulders and looked back at the smoking room. "I guess I'm just confused why we're back here. And why it's so… easy," I said. No sims were truly 'easy' but this one certainly wasn't pushing any challenge. The last time that I had awoken here, the whole building had been inflamed. I had crawled on hands and knees to get to the exit.</p><p>Eric grunted and pointed at the smoking room. "This time, we have to go in there."</p><p>I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "That's still not really- okay then," I said shaking my head. "Let's go then." I took a few steps forward and crouched down to avoid sucking in a face full of smoke. The hall was getting hazy as the flames continued their rampage. Oddly enough there weren't any alarms going off. I suspected now that Eric had altered the sim a bit so that he could talk me through it.</p><p>"I can't see anything," I called over my shoulder. My eyes started to tear up as I stood in the doorway. The smoke stung and the heat was like a wall. I re-upped my assessment of how difficult this actually would be.</p><p>I felt Eric's hand on my shoulder, strong and very much present. "There's a difference between escaping a fear and meeting it head on," he said loudly. Everything was getting more intense as we approached the full fire, even the noise.</p><p>Pulling the collar of my shirt up over my nose and mouth, I trudged into the room. The temperature turned scalding and I quickly skirted away from a set of office furniture that was smoldering. It would turn to flame soon and further add to the cocktail of danger in the room. "What are we looking for? Or is this just a 'sit in the fire until you've cooked enough to show you're brave' moment?" I yelled. Eric's vice grip remained on my shoulder, my only indication that he was still behind me.</p><p>"Keep going," Eric insisted. I led on, feeling as though I was more or less dragging him through it. The room seemed to expand and shift the more that we stepped through. Perhaps I was just seeing things in the smoke. The room looked less and less office-like and more residential. I spied a side table with framed photographs and a settee draped in a delicate knit blanket.</p><p>I realized belatedly that this was turning from my experience to Eric's. The dead giveaway was when a stairwell appeared in front of us with a short, blonde girl wavering at the top steps. The hand on my shoulder turned painfully tight.</p><p>"She isn't usually there," he murmured. The heat and smoke cascaded from above, crashing over the girl's form to rush to where we were standing. Eric pulled me down, back to the relative safety of the floor.</p><p>I turned to look at him. A deep sorrow was laid plain on his face, one that I was struggling to rectify with his normal smooth confidence. "What next?" I called. I wormed my thumb between his hand and my shoulder and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. I tried to put into the motion <em>you are not alone. </em>I tried to tell him <em>you are strong for facing this.</em> It was a lot to put on one little hand squeeze.</p><p>He swallowed heavily and looked down at the floor. "I-, well it's not-" he struggled to compose himself. Above us, the girl screamed for her parents and for her brother. I could only watch as Eric winced. I felt the flames starting to lick at my shoes and limbs, eager to consume everything.</p><p>"It's different with both of us in the sim. I thought it would be clear and it's not," Eric growled.</p><p>"Can we try, then?" I asked.</p><p>He shook his head, understanding my unfinished question. "No matter what, she's dead. The fire takes her. And I have to accept that," Eric said. The smoke was between us now, obscuring his face from me. I felt for the first time the sinking feeling that neither of us had beaten what the sim was challenging us to do.</p><p>There wasn't anything to say. No words would possibly make this better. I thought of how I had watched Caleb bleed out - an entirely fictional situation - and it had rattled me for days. I lurched forward and threw my arms around Eric.</p><p>"I'm sorry." I couldn't fix it. I couldn't even figure out how to help Eric through this fear now. All I could do was hug him and let him bury his head in the crook of my neck. "I'm so sorry."</p>
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